Left for Dead
by Noreaga
Summary: A woman's bloody corpse turns up in a Balamb alleyway. A simple murder? Not likely. (Fashioned after Law & Order.)
1. Chapter One

Law & Order marathon + FF8 replay + coffee = this fic.

I love Law & Order. :D I've been addicted to this show about five years now. And so I've decided to combine my favorite video game with my favorite TV show. For this fic, I've written my own Law & Order episode, only set in the FF8 world. I've tried to recreate the L&O feel EXACTLY. It was a good writing exercise. Enjoy, hopefully.

**

**Chapter One**

Sasha Mirukami clasped her video camera firmly in her hand. Disdainfully she glanced at the dingy alleyway around her. "Are you sure we have to film it here?" she asked the two teenagers in front of her. "It smells pretty awful."

"The script calls for a dumpster, right?" Nick Royden, the dirty blonde, replied. "And this is the closest we're going to get to a dumpster without actually _being _in a dumpster."

Lita Hiram, a tall statuesque young woman, tapped her foot impatiently. "Who cares? Let's just get this over with."

Still having her doubts, Sasha scanned the area in front of her hesitantly. "Well…I don't think there's enough space. Maybe if we moved that bag over there." She motioned to a large, white, canvas bag lying carelessly in the corner.

Nick walked over and tugged at the bag, discovering that it wasn't a bag at all, just a large piece of cloth. Noticing something oddly shaped underneath, he pulled the cover back.

"Oh….Hyne…." he barely muttered as he stared at the pale dead body lying on the ground.

**

Detective Rocky Aries ducked under the yellow crime scene tape and approached a nearby uniformed police officer. "What do we have?" he asked in an unusually deep voice.

The officer replied quickly, "Female victim, single stab wound through the chest. She was wrapped up in some cloth. Couple of kids found her while shooting a video for a school project." He nodded towards the trio of teenagers, who were currently being questioned by another officer. "They're pretty shook up."

Slowly Aries approached the body. The other crime scene investigators were still at work, marking up the ground, examining the body, taking pictures. The victim lay almost peacefully at an angle, her hands placed stiffly at her sides. Her skin was pale and cold and her lips had turned that distinctive dead purple color. A single large jagged blood stain indicated a rather violent and untimely end. Although not the most gruesome of deaths, Aries had definitely seen more painless ones throughout his career.

"How long has she been dead?" Aries questioned.

One of the medical examiners looked up. "From her body temperature and onset of rigor mortis, I'd say around twelve hours. Maybe a little less."

"She's dressed nice," the uniformed guard commented. "That's an expensive shirt."

"Yeah," said Aries. "Too bad that blood stain ruins it."

**

_Balamb 14th Precinct_

_May 20, __10:35 AM_

Quistis Trepe smoothed back a strand of blonde hair and strode confidently to a man working diligently at his desk.

"Excuse me," she said.

"Yeah?" the man said, not bothering to look up.

"Do you know where I can find a Detective Aries?"

The man glanced up indifferently, then did a double take at the gorgeous woman in front of him. "Uh, yeah," he stuttered, "he's right over there." He pointed at a tall, but heavyset, man filling his mug at the coffee machine.

Quistis smiled. "Thank you." She walked off, and the man at the desk watched her leave with a more than interested eye.

The SeeD made her way across the busy room. She had no idea how bustling a police precinct could be. Detectives in and out of uniform shuffled about, answering ringing phones and filing papers. No wonder they needed help from Garden.

"Mr. Aries?"

The detective turned around. He cocked his eyebrow up curiously. "Yes?"

"My name is Quistis Trepe, and I'm a SeeD from Balamb Garden --"

"Ah, so you're part of that batch of SeeD's they sent in," Aries interrupted. "What took you guys so long?"

Quistis stumbled. "Well, um, the Balamb police department only gave us the order recently."

Detective Aries waved his arm casually. "Don't worry about it. We could use the extra help around here."

"I can tell."

The older man smiled, sizing the SeeD up. "So you're partnered up with me for the rest of the month, huh?"

The woman nodded. "That's what I've been told."

"Then let's get working on the first case." He motioned for Quistis to follow him to his desk, where he opened up a file. "This morning we found a young lady murdered in an alley. Not that uncommon, even in a place like Balamb." He handed the papers to Quistis. "So Miss…Trepe, was it? – tell me what you think."

Quistis adjusted her glasses and examined the file in her hands. "Well, I have to admit, this is the first time I've worked with law enforcement." She tried hard to remember the Criminal Investigation lectures she had at Garden. "Don't we have to identify the body first? Did you canvas the neighborhood?"

"Yup, we asked everybody within a two-block radius," replied Aries. "Nobody knows her, and nobody saw anything suspicious last night."

The woman frowned. "Have we checked with the M.E. yet?"

**

_Balamb Coroner's Office_

_May 20, __1:05 PM_

Miriam Greenstone removed the latex gloves from her slender fingers carefully. She sighed at the thought of the rest of a long day still ahead of her. Being a medical examiner never got easier.

Turning around, she addressed the detective and the SeeD. "The victim was stabbed with large blade, a sword of some sort."

Quistis Trepe unwittingly took a glance at the deathly white body resting on the examination table. Although a SeeD, she had rarely seen a dead body so close before. She shuddered and was glad a sheet covered most of the corpse.

"Judging from the size, I'd say it was a katana," Miriam continued, washing her hands in a nearby sink. "She was stabbed in the back. Sword went right through and out the other side."

Quistis's disturbed expression deepened. She reserved a special loathing for cowards who attacked from behind.

"Did you run her fingerprints through the system yet?" Aries inquired.

"Yes, but we got no hits," Greenstone answered.

The detective threw his hands up exasperatingly. "So we still don't know who she is."

"Actually…." The medical examiner shook the excess water off her hands. "I found something that might interest you." She walked to her computer and brought up a series of diagrams on the screen. Quistis and Aries leaned over inquisitively.

"I ran a couple of tests on her brain, just to see if she was under the influence of magic or not." Miriam gestured to the multi-colored blobs all over the screen. "And I encountered something very unusual. See this blue spot right here?" She pointed at an especially large dull blue blob in the back of the brain. "That indicates a large concentration of para-magic that disappeared when she died. No regular magic spell does that."

"So what does that mean?"

"That means that she was junctioned to a GF. And the only people that have access to GF's are…"

"…SeeD's." Quistis gasped. "Oh, Hyne, she was a SeeD."


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

_Balamb__Garden__ Headmaster's Office_

_May 20, __3:30 PM_

Commander Squall Leonhart stood stiffly, as usual. His eyes fell on Quistis, then on Aries, and back to Quistis. Clearing his throat, he finally spoke. "I'm sorry to hear the news. It's always especially disturbing when a fellow SeeD dies."

Quistis only stared at her feet grimly.

Impatiently Aries stepped forward. "Mr. Leonhart, do you have the files we requested?"

"Yes, here they are." Squall reached to the desk behind him and picked up a crisp, clean manila folder and handed it to the detective. "We ran her fingerprints through the database, and we found a match. Her name was Felicity Sol. She transferred from Galbadia Garden last year."

So no wonder Quistis didn't recognize her. As Aries carefully studied the file, she questioned, "Squall, do you think it's possible we could search the girl's room?"

The Commander nodded. "Yes. I'll get one of my assistants to give you the master key. I hope you'll find something useful."

"Hey, it says here that Felicity was a Rank A SeeD," Aries suddenly burst out. "I guess all that training didn't help her this time, eh?"

Quistis felt like slapping him.

**

Aries scanned the bookshelf, occasionally reading some of the titles out loud. _"Purgatio, Queen of Souls, Liberi Tenebri…_this girl's got good taste."

Quistis nodded halfheartedly and scrutinized Felicity Sol's dorm. She hadn't even met the girl, yet a wracking sinking feeling pulled at her chest. All SeeD's – strangers or not – were brethren.

Aries finally broke the heavy silence. "This girl was neat." He indicated to the tidy stacks of paper on the desk. "She doesn't seem like the disturbed type, does she? Not the kind to make a lot of enemies."

"Excuse me, who are you?"

Quistis and Aries whipped around in unison. A petite, redheaded girl stood at the half-open door. "Who are you guys?" she demanded again, with more force. "And what're you doing in Felicity's room?"

"I'm Detective Aries of the Balamb P.D. and this is my partner, Ms. Trepe." Digging his hands into his pockets, the detective sighed. "I'm sorry to inform you, but Felicity is dead. We're investigating her death."

The girl's jaw dropped. "W-what? H-how…?"

"Her body was found this morning in Balamb," Quistis said. "Were you Felicity's friend?"

"Yes, I'm Ruby Constontino," the petite girl replied. "How…how did she die?"

"She was killed," Quistis answered. "We're going to find out who did it."

"Sorry to ask you this, but where were youlast night around eight?" Aries's rough tone contrasted sharply with his partner's gentle one.

"Um, I was out clubbing from seven until….one, I think," Ruby said. "You can ask some of my friends, if you need to." The girl leaned against the doorway for support. "Damn. I can't believe she's dead."

Aries continued questioning, "Do you know if Felicity had any enemies? Anyone have a reason to want her dead?"

Ruby ran her fingers through her red hair. "I'm not sure," she said after a long pause. "We were only at B-Garden for a year."

Quistis raised an eyebrow. "You two transferred together?"

"Yeah, we're best friends."

"So do have any idea what Felicity would be doing at Balamb?" the detective inquired. "According to her files, she wasn't on duty."

"I have no clue." Then, Ruby's green eyes widened like saucer. "No, wait….I think I remember she said something about a date. You don't think that...?"

"We'll look into that," noted Quistis. "You wouldn't happen to know who she was going to see, would you?"

Ruby shook her head. "I don't know who he is. I don't even know how she met him."

**

Back at the precinct, Aries dug into a sub sandwich that was a late lunch or an early dinner. Glancing at Quistis Trepe sitting across from him, he pointed to the other half of the sandwich sitting on his plate. "You sure you don't want some?"

Quistis shook her head. "I'm fine." She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "So how about that Ruby girl? She didn't seem too teary about her best friend's death."

Munching on his food, Aries focused on the papers on his desk. "You think she had something to do with the murder? Her alibi checks out."

Quistis shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems strange. SeeD's are hardly transferred between Gardens, much less two at a time." She paused. "But first, why don't we focus on this guy that Felicity was supposedly seeing for a date?"

"About Felicity's mysterious date…according to her phone records, somebody made a call to Felicity's room the day she died. Uniforms traced the number back to…" His face fell. "…a pay phone."

"So we're still back at Square one," Quistis murmured, going over the crime scene report again. "She was dumped in the alleyway, right? So we don't even know _where _she was actually killed. This whole thing is getting so _frustrating._"

The gray-haired detective grunted in response. "Welcome to my job."

_Brring._

Aries picked up the phone next to him. "Aries here….yeah?" He listened for only a brief moment. "Okay, we'll be right over." He hung up and turned to his partner. "That was the forensics lab. They want us to get over there right now."

Quistis nodded and grabbed her coat.

**

_Balamb Crime Lab_

_May 20, __6:15 PM_

Reid Murdoch was dozing in his chair when Rocky Aries and Quistis Trepe walked through the door of the laboratory.

"You wanted to see us?" Aries greeted dryly.

Murdoch sat up sluggishly and rubbed his eyes. "Nice to see you too, Roc. Now if you'll come this way." He led the other two past rows of microscopes, beakers, and other mad scientist-looking things. "You remember the girl you found this morning that was wrapped up in that sheet?"

"No Reid, I don't remember. Please, remind me."

Murdoch snickered at the detective's sarcasm. The man then stopped in front of a long table. Picking up a large white sheet, he unfurled it dramatically. "I give you…that very sheet!"

Trepe and Aries just stared.

"I bet you're just _dying _to know what I found out about this sheet."

"Just get on with it, Reid."

Reid sighed. "You're never any fun." He laid the cloth back on the table. "As you can see here --" he pointed to the frayed edges "—the sheet was cut off from something else. The question is, what?"

The crime lab specialist then led Quistis and Aries to a nearby microscope. "On further examination," Reid continued, "I discovered that the cloth was made of a very tightly woven polyester material, known as Dacron to many people."

"So you can tell where this cloth came from?" Quistis asked excitedly.

"Yup," Murdoch replied. "It's part of a sail from a fishing boat. Looks pretty old too. It's been worn down badly." Reid leaned casually on the table. "From the weave pattern and thickness of material, I was able to narrow it down to the exact brand of sailcloth. Turns out, it's a local Balamb company."

"Looks like we're taking a trip to the docks," Aries muttered.

**

_Balamb__Harbor_

_May 21, __9:30 AM_

Quistis breathed in the ocean air deeply. She had always loved the open sea. Even at the orphanage, the sound of the waves was all that she needed to relax. Aries, on the other hand, didn't quite share his partner's appreciation for the ocean. The smell of salt in the air reminded him of his unusually potent seasickness.

"Let's split up," the older detective suggested, pointing at the surrounding fishermen. "We'll ask if anybody's missing part of their sail…or something."

The SeeD nodded and headed off in one direction. Leisurely she made her way down the dock, the wood of the platform creaking under her boots. By an off chance, she looked down and suddenly halted. A large, irregular spot had seeped on the wood. Quistis gasped softly. She recognized blood when she saw it.

"Aries!" she called. "Come look at this!"

Aries rapidly strode to Quistis's side and saw what she did.

"So here's the crime scene."


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Members of the Balamb crime division swarmed the docks. The entire harbor was closed off with yellow tape, with investigators searching every cranny for the tiniest of clues. The police even had divers hunting the nearby ocean floor for anything useful. On the other side of the tape, Quistis interrogated a frail elderly fisherman known only as Landers.

"It was the craziest thing," Landers complained. "I wake up yesterday morning and my sail's gone! Just like that! I have to buy a new one for 300 gil. Three hundred! Where am I gonna get that kind of money?"

"Mr. Landers, you didn't happen to see anybody suspicious lurking around your boat two nights ago, did you?" Quistis asked, trying in vain to calm the old man down.

"No, I didn't see nobody, and I didn't see nothin'," the fisherman replied rudely. "I docked my boat and went home at seven o'clock on the dot. Been doing that for thirteen years. And one day, I wake up, and my sail's gone!" Landers shook his head. "Damn crooks makin' it harder and harder for us honest folk to make a livin'."

Quistis thanked the man and rejoined her partner. "Did you find out anything?" she asked tiredly.

"Nope," Aries replied. "Nobody was around the docks that late. Balamb's a small harbor. It closes at seven."

Quistis let out a sigh and wrapped her coat tighter around her. "How are we doing on that blood stain?"

The other shrugged. "Let's ask." 

Aries stepped over the yellow crime tape with Quistis following him. "Hey, Miriam!" he yelled. "Where are we with that blood?"

Miriam Greenstone, the medical examiner, stood from her kneeling position and presented a test tube with a cotton swab in it. "I think it's a positive match," she reported. "There was definitely GF-type magic in the blood. We'll take it back to the lab to confirm that it actually belonged to the victim."

Aries and Quistis both breathed a sigh of relief at this confirmation. Then, suddenly, another breakthrough.

"We found something!" one of the divers yelled after emerging from the water.

Without hesitation, the two detectives made their way towards the edge of pier, where the diver had climbed. 

"Look at this," he said and held up a sopping wet katana, with a splash of crimson on its blade.

"The murder weapon," Quistis whispered, rather redundantly.

"Bag it," ordered Aries.

"No, wait!" Quistis carefully took the weapon in her gloved hands. She examined it closely, taking her time to feel the simple ridged hilt and the sharply curved blade. "I recognize this. It was a model in the last issue of _Weapons Monthly._"

"So whoever used it didn't buy it too long ago," Aries concluded.

"And it's available at only a few weapon shops in select cities," informed Quistis. "Balamb was one of them."

**

Rocky and Quistis walked briskly side by side down the sidewalk. Aries was talking, like always.

"Basically, the perp sneaks up on the victim and stabs her in the back," Aries reviewed, "steals a sail, wraps up the body, and throws the weapon into the ocean." The man frowned. "So why didn't he throw the body into the water too?"

"Something that big, a fisherman would've found it in no time," Quistis speculated. "But an abandoned alley, who knows? If it weren't for those kids doing their school project, it could've been days, or even weeks, before the body was discovered."

They both stopped in front of a tidy little building. "Here's the weapons shop," Quistis declared and pushed open the door. "Let's hope we find something good."

The inside of the shop was neat and had a mom-and-pop feel to it. Shelves of steel pipes, screws, and various odds and ends lined the store from wall to wall. Had it not been for the signs that proclaimed such graphic things as "kill two with one shot!" and "customized to slice through flesh!", the store would've been almost…quaint.

The golden-haired SeeD strolled up to the empty counter and rang the bell twice. The back door creaked open, and portly middle-aged gentleman ambled his way to the front.

"Can I help you?" said the proprietor politely.

"I'm working for the Balamb police," Quistis explained. "And I'm wondering if anybody came in here to buy a Model L-32 katana."

"A Model L-32?" the proprietor said. "Not many people buy katanas anymore, you know. Everyone wants a gun these days. But yes, somebody did purchase an L-32 from me a couple of days ago. Strange man. Paid with cash and refused a receipt."

"Do you think you could describe this person?"

The portly man chuckled. "Of course I can describe him. He only comes in here every day. Let's see now…tall, around 6'2, in his fifties or sixties, sort of frail-looking, gray salt-and-pepper hair. Calls himself Madison. He's homeless, I think. Kind of delusional. He hangs around the train station."

Quistis grinned. "Thank you so much. If we brought down a sketch artist, do you think you could help make a picture?"

"No problem."

**

_Balamb Train Station_

_May 21, __12:50 PM_

Quistis never liked silence. It gave her too much time to think. And that never ended well.

The SeeD gazed out the passenger window of the squad car parked across the street from the train station. Several street bums gathered at the front steps leading to the entrance. Quistis kept a close eye on them, but at the same time, wracked her head for some conversation starters.

"So how long have you been doing this job?" she finally spoke.

Aries grunted from the seat next to her. "I've been a cop for twenty-five years. Been out of uniform for fifteen."

"Does your family like having a cop around?"

The detective grunted again. "What family?"

Amusedly Quistis looked at her partner from the corner of her eye. "So you're not married then?"

"Nope. You offering?"

Quistis rolled her eyes, but smiled.

"This line of work messes with your mind," Aries continued. "Even if I did have a family, what would I say to my kids every day? 'Well, honey, today I arrested a man who raped and killed his own daughter. Pass the potatoes.' I never met a woman who could deal with it, you know, unless I married another cop. But I can't afford to piss off a woman with a gun."

Quistis laughed softly. "Yes, it's the exact same thing with SeeD's," she agreed. "You can't risk dating somebody else with the same baggage as you…though sometimes I hope that there's still somebody out there who _gets _it. But…" Her voice quieted.

"Hope's a bitch," Aries concluded.

After some more silence, Detective Aries nodded out the window. "That looks like our guy, doesn't it?"

The other glanced out the window. Sure enough, a new bum had arrived on the scene, hobbling over to join the others. Quistis quickly looked down at the sketch she held in her hands. "That's definitely him."

Immediately Aries and Quistis climbed out of the car and walked cautiously across the street. As he approached their target, Aries called out, "Madison! We need to talk to you!"

The one called Madison slowly turned around. His already pale skin turned whiter when he saw the two detectives coming towards him. Then, without warning he dashed up the steps and into the train station.

"I hate it when they run," grumbled Aries as he and his partner gave chase.

Sprinting into the station, Aries and Quistis pushed and shoved past crowds of people. Aries thought he may have knocked someone down, but he didn't care. While he kept his eye at the fleeing figure of Madison, he followed his target to the ticket stiles. Quistis jumped over the stiles with ease, but the older Aries took a little longer to clamber over.

"Keep going after him!" Aries ordered Quistis. "He's heading for the back exit! I'll cut him off at the other side!"

Quistis heard the instructions loud and clear and ran ahead without her partner. Trailing Madison by several yards, she pumped her legs harder, gaining speed as she ran. They whizzed past the train platforms and darted by the gift shop.

_For an old man, he can run pretty fast_, Quistis thought, breathing heavily.

The old bum had turned the corner and was headed for a small, glass door that was the back exit of the Balamb Train Station. Quistis felt a bit of panic when she saw the door. If Madison was able to escape out that exit, she would lose him definitely in the crowd outside. The SeeD forced her legs to move faster.

From her peripheral vision, Quistis saw the glass door swing open, and Rocky Aries rushed in, his handgun pointed directly at Madison.

"Police! Stop right there!" Aries bellowed.

Madison halted abruptly. His hesitation was just enough time for Quistis to catch up and tackle the old man to the ground. 

"Madison, we're going to take you down to the station. I'd cooperate if I were you," Aries said as his partner pulled the suspect off the ground, forcing his hands behind his back.

With the help of Aries, the blonde SeeD dragged Madison out of the train station, amidst a gaggle of astonished spectators.


End file.
